Bankers lose extradition battle

A TEAM of NatWest investment bankers, the 'Enron Three', today lost their fight to avoid extradition to the United States to stand trial on fraud charges.

They could now face bankruptcy and up to 35 years in jail over their alleged part in a multimillion dollar fraud with disgraced executives of the bust energy giant.

The judge at Bow Street Magistrates Court said he saw no reason why the three could not face trial in Texas over the alleged fraud charges.

Judge Nicholas Evans said there was a good basis for the three, former employees of Greenwich NatWest which is now part of Royal Bank of Scotland, to be prosecuted in the US. He dismissed claims they would not get a fair trial. His recommendation now goes to Home Secretary David Blunkett.

They three vowed to appeal the 'unequal and unjust' ruling.

The three, Gary Mulgrew, Giles Darby and David Bermingham, all in their 40s, face allegations that they conspired with Enron executives, including former finance chief Andrew Fastow, over the sale of a stake in an Enron entity in 2000.

The British trio pocketed £1.5m apiece.

Enron executives, led by former finance boss Andrew Fastow, are reckoned to have made £7.6m from the sale of a subsidiary.

The British bankers argued the deal was perpetrated in the UK and affected a UK organisation, NatWest.

They are charged by US authorities of conspiring with Enron executives Andrew Fastow and Michael Kopper in 2000 to hatch a deal over a Cayman Islands-registered subsidiary of the failed energy giant that led to the Britons each pocketing £1.5m.

The US government claims the transactions were made when the bankers' jobs were in jeopardy at the time NatWest was being taken over by Royal Bank of Scotland.

Fastow and Kopper have already signed statements admitting their involvement and alleging the involvement of the British bankers.

Judge Evans' ruling rejected the claims of defence QC Alun Jones that they were not eligible to be tried in the US because the alleged victim was a British bank, the defendants are British and the majority of the alleged scam happened here.

Jones claimed the trio were being targeted by US authorities in an attempt to prosecute anyone connected to the Enron scandal.

Judge Evans ruled: 'I accept the defendants could have been prosecuted in the UK. There was, however, no obligation to prosecute them in the UK. There is a good and proper basis for prosecuting them in the US.

'There is no good reason to suppose the jury will not give the defendants a fair trial. The process of extradition is necessary in a democratic society, and proportionate.'

The extradition order comes under new UK legislation, in force since January this year, which was designed to speed up the extradition of suspected terrorists.

Their solicitor Mark Spragg is in no doubt the case will affect future extradition cases under the new act.

'US authorities will be able to just phone up and we will have to put UK nationals in an orange suit and put them on the next plane,' said Spragg.

FORMER Enron executive Daniel Boyle has admitted in a US court that he knew the energy company had made a bogus deal with Merrill Lynch in order to post fraudulent profits, but denied he had a part in it. Boyle, another former Enron executive and four former Merrill bankers face fraud charges.